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Good Sam has seen an increasing demand for its services. Without the expansion, patients would need to be transferred to other hospitals and delays would occur in the emergency department, Kasman said.

Acute care refers to general medical, surgical and critical care. With the expansion, the hospital’s post-surgical care unit will move to Dally Tower. Progressive, cardiac and intensive care beds will increase in number.

Space in other buildings will be reconfigured for a 23-bed rehabilitation expansion and a program for chemically dependent pregnant women.

Both of those are under review by the Department of Health.

The rehabilitation expansion will bring the total number of beds to 48. That program is one of a handful of Level 1 adult trauma rehabilitation services in the region.

“They handle the most complex patients for rehabilitation,” Kasman said.

The program for pregnant women is new for the hospital.

“The genesis for this program came about with some of our physicians coming to administration, pointing out that this population is really underserved across the whole state,” Kasman said.

When a facility like Good Sam adds a bed, it needs to add staff. The number of nurses per patient varies from general care to intensive care. Kasman could not provide numbers this week.

“It would be a ramp up incrementally over time as the new beds come on line,” he said.